Club Legend

Given Freo were paying $4.50 to make the top8 at the start of the season and given even with my bias I thought we had a sneaky chance of making the finals if and only if, we had a great run with injuries, I would say the season was ok, all things considered.

We won 1 more game than in 2018.
We finished one spot higher on the ladder.
We were more consistent in 2019 than in 2018.
In 2018, we lost 9 games by 50+ points. In 2019, just 1 ... largely due to our improved defence which saw us have 100 points scored against us in 2018 9 times down to just 4 in 2019.
We lost 3 games by less than a kick and so could have easily ended the season with 12 wins and finished 9th missing finals by percentage (likewise we had 4 games won by less than a kick and could have easily ended the season with 5 wins and finished 16th).
We finished with a much better % than in 2018.
We improved by 15.7 points per game (1 point for and 14.7 points against).
Given the AFL league saw teams average 3.1 points less per game, our nett improvement can also be represented as an increase of 4.1 points for and a decrease of 11.6 points against.
Our rebuild growth went from having just 5 x 50+ club game players in Round 1 to 9 x 50+ club game players in Round 23. The lowest average in the AFL which still shows that Freo are still well and truly in a rebuild phase.
We had substantial injuries to key position players, placing further stress and delays on our rebuild.
Our Disposal Efficiency (69.5%) was substantially our worst ever during Lyon's tenure from 2012 onwards (next worst was 71.6 in 2012). This can be related to our rebuild and our lack of experienced club game players.

Fortunately, if I am to believe some media reports and Big Footy posts then in 2019, with a new Senior Coach in 2020, I can expect;
BHill, Langdon and SHill all resigning and committing to Freo.
Lachie Neale requesting a trade back to Fremantle in 2020.
Fremantle to break the shackles of the Lyon era and dramatically improve scoring and do much better than our 15.7 points nett improvement in 2019, which given our 2019 ladder and results would have us finishing about 3rd in 2020.
Skills coaching and training should dramatically improve Skills resulting in Disposal Efficiency being well above the 72.9% average it has been for the last 5 years 2015-2019 of Lyon's tenure ... which should see us, at the very least, up around Hawthorn's 74.7% average for that period.
Players subsequently not having to be effort based, running as far and hence fewer injuries and more wins in the 2nd half of each season. Because during Lyon's tenure we have won 54.5% (48 of 98) of our Home & Away games in the first half of the season and just 51.7% (45 of 97) of our second half of the season. We need to bridge that dramatic 2.8% drop off.

Matthew Pavlich Medallist

When fit our preferred distributors out the backline are Wilson, SHill and Ryan. It's their role to use the ball well and help us move the ball forward in an aggressive fashion. All three are injured so at the moment it's the lesser lights that are doing the distributing out of the back line. (Duman, Nyhuis, Logue, Hughes, etc.) Yes it would be great if they were better (we need our depth to be better if we want to move up the ladder). However they're the second string options and I'm not going to be as harsh on them as I am on the first string players.

- Ed Langdon is a first string player. He is our first choice midfielder to play on the opposite wing to BHill.
- When our team is fit we clearly try to get the ball to our designated distributors. SHill, Wilson, Ryan, BHill, Langdon, Walters, Mundy. (spot the odd one out)
- 71% of Ed Langdon's possessions were uncontested. Our mids were doing their part and feeding him the ball.
- Out of all our Best22 distributors, he is by far the worst. We may have depth players equally as bad, but that is why they are depth.
- Earlier in the year he was the 3rd worst kick i50 in the entire competition. 9 out of 10 times that he kicks inside 50 we do not retain the ball. Link
- A turnover from an outside midfielder is so much harder to defend, when an inside mid hack kicks it forward out of a pack the team know it's a 50/50 chance it's coming back. The defenders stay sharp and close to their opposite men. When an outside mid gets the ball in the clear the whole team streams forward assuming we are going to maintain position. Everyone is out of position when they turn it over. It hurts a lot more than it just being a missed scoring opportunity. How often have we seen it rebound straight back.
- His disposal efficiency looks good because he kicks the ball long and high (DPearce like). Very rarely is he able to spot up a target and kick to their advantage. He does not possess the skill to do so. Ed himself said this in an interview mid year. He is all about run and effort, not silky skills. (I'm trying to find this interview if anyone remembers it).

We keep talking about our lack of skills, our focus on effort over skill. I've never questioned Ed's effort, he always gives 110%. To me Ed Langdon is the personification of Ross Lyon 'Effort' ball. If we want to move forward we should be looking to offload him.

Also you mentioned him kicking at full tilt. How has he not learnt after 4-5 seasons to slow down a fraction before kicking.

Ok, I defer to your far superior knowledge and research on Ed's deficiencies. Fair call on your part.

As long as we can squeeze Melbourne's second round pick for him (if that's where he goes), then I guess it's a fair deal. I wouldn't necessarily back Simon Goodwin to improve his skills much, so if they want outside run, they can give us their 2nd, or Gus Bayshaw and we chuck in some change to even it up.

Club Legend

Injuries have been a forever thing. 2011 we nearly had to bring in some ring-ins to cover the record levels of injuries. Taylor's dead right with demonstrating GPS km's as a causal link, it needs more of the observable stuff over feelpinions to qualify for critical thinking.

Yeah, I'm sure Hogan redoing the same foot injury he came back early from had nothing to do with covering 15.3km the week before on Optus, the same distance premier mids like Cousins, Black and Buckley used to cover in my era.

Team Captain

Yeah, I'm sure Hogan redoing the same foot injury he came back early from had nothing to do with covering 15.3km the week before on Optus, the same distance premier mids like Cousins, Black and Buckley used to cover in my era.

Premiership Player

I was all fine and dandy chalking this season up to another difficult, dreary but necessary season on the course of a rebuild but tbh the sacking of Ross (even if you don't think he was the man post 2020 and I have my own small doubts he was) has blown that right out of the water.

Even if you think Ross had to go, the mixed messaging coming out from the club is the biggest issue imo. How come if finals was a priority this year, we wasted a first round pick on a project kid who didn't play afl all year? Our drafting in particular, our 'best available' drafting has resulted in bupkis. All those years overlooking key position players in the draft, west aussies to boot, aiming to buy one in the trade period, and failing year after year and its Rosses fault?

If they had told Ross from Rd1 its finals or bust, maybe he would have played Banfield as a tagging mid, or brought in Jones sooner or any number of other things he has done in the past that the competition doesn't like but results in wins.

I think there will be a whole lot of posters here that won't be happy with a skill based gameplan being implemented by our team full of potatoes. The reason it worked at Hawthorn and West Coast is that they draft and trade so much better than us.

Club Legend

The season started with some much hope after finally filling our holes up forward with Hogan, Lobb and Tabs, Cox improving. Then we pants North in round 1 before injury hits and everything fall apart after the bye...

It’s a very odd season. We’ve beaten 3 of the top 4 teams but lost our games to 4 of the bottom 5 teams (edged Sydney by 1 point, or it’ll be 5 out of 5). For a supporter, it’s really an emotional roller coaster. Every week, we are left wondering which Freo will turn up.

Actually, it’s clearer when we look on field. We always seem to need to run, contest and tackle harder than our opponents to just kick the same amount of goals. This is true even when we are winning or when we had our tall forward available. We are just not efficient enough and the skills error just mean we had to work harder to make up the difference. I believe this took a toll in terms of injury or even how well we can sustain the intensity.

Hopefully, the new coach (whoever gets picked) will work on this as a high priority when he come onboard.

Talking about the new coach, the uncertainty with the CEO / coach search is really worrying. At the time Ross Lyon was removed, there are already 3 teams with coaches sacked and who knows maybe 1 or 2 more actively looking. My concern is that we are in competition with these clubs for the best candidates, and we are always at a disadvantage considering the need for relocating the whole family to another state. I was really expecting the board to do some due diligence to assess who is available and how keen they are before making the big call to drop Ross. Maybe they did but it’s just not public knowledge. Can’t feel being uneasy with the current situation.

I’m really worried about list management. Read somewhere we don’t have a list manager (or really bad at his job?). Last year, the backup was Rosich, who is also gone now. We are all counting on you now, Peter!

AND the S&C team.
I’ve given them an F the last 2 years and..., congratulations with the hat trick
Mr Alcock/Bell, if we really want fresh air and listen to the fans feedback, please review this and take action. Yes, we are playing footy and injuries happen. But with the number of relapses, re injury and constant shifting of “weeks out” its just obvious that the S&C team doesn’t know what they are doing. If we are really doing a clean out I expect something to be done here...please.

I am so glad the season is over. Watching our matches can be quite emotionally draining.
Then again, the action actually starts now. The search for CEO/coach, player retention, drafting, injuries...
What is being done the next few months will determine how we go the next few years.

Club Legend

Just a few thoughts on the season. (I am away from home and haven’t seen the last 3 games - maybe a good thing).

Many have commented that we improved our points against. I feel that probably came about, in part, by improved midfield performance. We did give away less score per inside 50, but also fairly much split the inside 50s with our opponents across the year, so played more of the game at our end. Having Fyfe thru the year, Mundy in the middle (early in the season), and great season from Sonny made a difference. This is no reflection on our defence, which shapes very well I think.

The disappointing thing for me is that there was no young player that really stepped up, or even showed some great glimpses. Some minor pluses, Andy improved as the season progressed, a little bit at times from Logue and Darcy, Tucker took a step forward early, then half a step back.

Norm Smith Medallist

Just a few thoughts on the season. (I am away from home and haven’t seen the last 3 games - maybe a good thing).

Many have commented that we improved our points against. I feel that probably came about, in part, by improved midfield performance. We did give away less score per inside 50, but also fairly much split the inside 50s with our opponents across the year, so played more of the game at our end. Having Fyfe thru the year, Mundy in the middle (early in the season), and great season from Sonny made a difference. This is no reflection on our defence, which shapes very well I think.

The disappointing thing for me is that there was no young player that really stepped up, or even showed some great glimpses. Some minor pluses, Andy improved as the season progressed, a little bit at times from Logue and Darcy, Tucker took a step forward early, then half a step back.

This is spot on (regarding the midfield). Ross said so earlier in the year too. A big reason we saw a spike in our performance was the amount of quality we were able to pump through there. Unfortunately, as Mundy tired (and he did) and Walters was drawn out to play fwd more for various reasons, we saw a slump in performance.

On the upside, Brayshaw played more and more from the middle as the season went on, and he did basically OK. Blakely had a few more turns late and Cerra even later, they were so-so at best TBH. Conca went in for a bit of muscle, but unless he was playing with one of the other A graders, he was limited.

A big part of the midfield machine is going to rest on Cerra and Brayshaw building a tank and strength to become more permanently capable of playing there, especially Cerra who if he can get some confidence (new coach may help) and lock in an AFL level work ethic, has a lot of upside.

Premium Gold

Actually, it’s clearer when we look on field. We always seem to need to run, contest and tackle harder than our opponents to just kick the same amount of goals. This is true even when we are winning or when we had our tall forward available. We are just not efficient enough and the skills error just mean we had to work harder to make up the difference. I believe this took a toll in terms of injury or even how well we can sustain the intensity.

Hopefully, the new coach (whoever gets picked) will work on this as a high priority when he come onboard.

We've had to work and play harder because we didn't have the raw talent. No coach is going to turn Ed Langdon into a silky ball user like Walters (for example). It's fundamentally a list issue, a coach can only use the tools he's given by the club.

Premiership Player

We've had to work and play harder because we didn't have the raw talent. No coach is going to turn Ed Langdon into a silky ball user like Walters (for example). It's fundamentally a list issue, a coach can only use the tools he's given by the club.

There is a team of people involved in list management, that team report directly to the coaches boss, not the coach.

2016 when we went to the draft for the rebuild, at worst he was responsible for folks 22-23 years old and under. All the missing first round talent - only SHill remaining that was older is in no way related to Ross as it preexists his tenure - even if he was responsible for list management (and he wasn't).

Premiership Player

There is a team of people involved in list management, that team report directly to the coaches boss, not the coach.

2016 when we went to the draft for the rebuild, at worst he was responsible for folks 22-23 years old and under. All the missing first round talent - only SHill remaining that was older is in no way related to Ross as it preexists his tenure - even if he was responsible for list management (and he wasn't).

Premium Gold

The reason that you don't have list management under the coach is because the coach looks to this year. But those draft picks are the lifeblood of the club and could be there for up to a decade and a half (Sandi for example), coaches come and go, you need to think your list beyond the tenure of coaches.

That being said, a club will also want to top up while they are in a premiership window as getting the trophy is the ultimate aim. But whereas a Stevie J only comes in for the last year or 2 of his career, someone like Hamling is still expected to be around after the coach has departed (and a reason for thinking it through beyond this years needs - e.g. out of the coaches hands).

Club Legend

We've had to work and play harder because we didn't have the raw talent. No coach is going to turn Ed Langdon into a silky ball user like Walters (for example). It's fundamentally a list issue, a coach can only use the tools he's given by the club.

Well yeah, yes and no.
Using your example, it’s fair to say Ed will never be able to do the pinpoint kicks Walters and the Hills do frequently. But he can definitely still improve his 30-40m kicks to a leading forward. Practice it 1000 times in the off season to make sure the height and trajectory of the ball is just right. Or learning to do better shot selection. Or learn to read play better to kick to advantage. Little improvement can go a long way. 3 less turnovers could be the difference and translate to an extra goal a game.

purple haze

I think it's fair to say all bar Hughes were only depth this year. They only started regularly playing once we had injuries.

Having said that, I expect Logue to be a regular starter next year, even though he's the current whipping boy of the month.

I'm also a fan of Hughes, he's not perfect but I think sometimes people get blinkered with guys like him and only notice the mistakes and not the positives they bring. I know that will be a deeply unpopular opinion though.

Brownlow Medallist

I think it's fair to say all bar Hughes were only depth this year. They only started regularly playing once we had injuries.

Having said that, I expect Logue to be a regular starter next year, even though he's the current whipping boy of the month.

I'm also a fan of Hughes, he's not perfect but I think sometimes people get blinkered with guys like him and only notice the mistakes and not the positives they bring. I know that will be a deeply unpopular opinion though.

Hughes was probably the most improved player this season, for me. Came in the team, improved as time went on. He’s a competitor, goes in hard and he marks elite.
Many more players then had worst games then him. Unfortunately as a defender, he’s the one getting the blame - had a few brain fazes that happened at the wrong time